Our Horrible Fate
by Darude Dogestorm
Summary: A terrible tragedy occurs. The monster wakes up, and the rest wither like dead flowers.
1. Chapter 1

Dawn was always an enchanting thing to behold. Golden light, the crispness of the air, it would be a blessing to experience one, especially since it only happened at, well, the crack of dawn. However, Hazelflower did not get to see it. She was fast asleep in the nursery.

Hazelflower was, if you did not know, an expecting queen- and at such a lucky time too! The clan had been running short on apprentices recently, and Hazelflower was due soon. Already, claims were being made on who would apprentice her kits, by ambitious wanna-be-deputies to senior warriors who feared going to StarClan without making a final offering.

A form appeared in the nursery entrance. It was a light brown tabby, with white paws- in other words, she looked almost exactly like Hazelflower.

"Hazelflower," she whispered. The queen did not stir, so she tried again.

"Hazelflower!" she said, louder this time. The queen turned a bit in her sleep, but did not wake up. Rolling her eyes, the she-cat walked forwards a bit and, slowly and carefully, prodded the queen with her front paw. Cracking open her eyes, Hazelflower was greeted by the sight of her sister, Twigfoot.

"Ng, wh't do you want…" Hazelflower mumbled, speech slightly slurred by being so rudely awoken.

"I need to tell you something really important!" Twigfoot quietly exclaimed, in a whisper-shouting sort of way. Hazelflower stared at her, expecting a quick answer so that she could go back to sleep. Twigfoot did not say anything. There was a short silence, before Hazelflower hissed.

"Get on with it," she whispered, irritated. Twigfoot's ear twitched. "I need you to get up first."

Wagging her tail in annoyance, the queen heaved herself up and walked out of her nest. Twigfoot made an excited squeak, and led her out of the nursery, and out of camp.

"Going somewhere?" a deep-sounding voice asked, once they reached the entrance.

"We're just going for a quick walk," said Twigfoot. "It's not much, we're just going around the drinking pool."

Robinfur nodded. The drinking pool was close enough to camp for his comfort, especially since a queen- a heavily expectant one, mind you- was going to be out and about. Twigfoot and Hazelflower continued on.

The walk to the drinking pool was a quiet one, consisting mostly of Hazelflower sleepily stumbling behind her sister and wondering what was so important that they couldn't go later. Shortly after the walk, they came across the pool. Some light shimmered on its surface. The grass around it had dew clinging to it, and the water looked inviting to anyone who was willing to dip into it.

"Twigfoot, why are we here? It's too early." Hazelflower complained. Twigfoot's whiskers twitched.

"You're getting lazy, sister! You use to be running around at this time before you moved to the nursery." She joked. Hazelflower chuckled lightly, before gazing around.

"So why did you bring me here?" She asked. Twigfoot stood still for a moment, before answering.

"Well… I wanted to ask something about your kits…" she began. Hazelflower huffed.

"Really?" She said, annoyed, "That's all anyone's been talking about with me!"

"Hey, let me finish!" said Twigfoot, and she sat down right next to the pool. "I wanted to ask you… what would happen to them if you died?"

There was a long, awkward silence, before Hazelflower let out a flat, "What."

"Hear me out," said Twigfoot, ears back, "I was curious because, well, Webtail's gone, and… if you were gone, what'd happen?"

Hazelflower sat silently, rather offended. She somewhat understood her sister's worry of her death- complications were not at all rare- but how dare she bring up her dead mate. Webtail, may he rest in peace, had been brought to StarClan's welcoming grasp not even two moons ago by a vicious fox, who was wandering the territory.

"I understand if you're angry at me for asking something like that, but I'm just really concerned, you know?" said Twigfoot apologetically, ears still held back. "I care about you a lot, and I care about your kits a lot too. I just… was curious."

Hazelflower sat for a short bit, thinking, before saying, "I'm not sure."

"Oh."

They sat at the pool for a while, admiring it for a bit in total silence. The dew had mostly burned off the grass by then, but the pool still reflected golden light. Twigfoot coughed a bit.

Suddenly, she stood up. Hazelflower flicked her gaze to her sister, confused.

"I guess it's time to head back home," her sister said, and the queen nodded in agreement. They began their walk back home.

 **EDIT:**

 **11/20/18**

 **i found a typo! i didn't like it!**


	2. Chapter 2

It was a week after the walk with Twigfoot, and Hazelflower could not be more lethargic. She had been staying in her nest the past few days, tearing up her mossy nest until it was in shreds. Her daily routine consisted of a nap from sunset to sunrise, then back to sleep not an hour later. Of course, exceptions were made; Duckpelt needed to check on her frequently, and some of the younger warriors had started to try and butter her up with prey and fresh moss.

She was in the middle of yet another deep sleep when, suddenly, she felt a sharp pain. Opening her eyes a bit, she tried ignoring it but it wouldn't go away. Sighing, she tried getting up, and let out a surprised yelp when she crumpled onto the ground. The pain was more prominent now, in her lower stomach area, and this was when she first considered if she was kitting.

"Duckpelt!" she yelled, calling out the medicine cat's name, wincing in pain as she did so. Shortly after, a light brown cat with scruffy fur hopped into the den, swishing her tail.

"Is everything okay, Hazelflower?" she asked sleepily, before her eyes seemed to widen a bit.

"Oh, it's that time… hold on, let me grab my things."

Duckpelt popped out of the nursery for what felt like ages, before coming back with a stick and some moss in her jaws. Laying them down next to Hazelflower (who promptly grasped the stick in her jaws), she sat down and waited.

* * *

It was a couple of hours later, and by then the whole clan had heard of Hazelflower's kitting. There was excited chatter from a couple of cats hanging around the nursery, which was quickly silenced when Duckpelt walked out of the den. The medicine cat's fur was a little ruffled, but all and all was about the same as before. Twigfoot, who happened to be one of the chatting cats, got up and padded over to her.

"So, how's my sister?" asked Twigfoot, grinning. "Who am I the aunt of?"

"Well," sighed Duckpelt, "There were two stillborns, but otherwise Hazelflower has a healthy daughter."

Twigfoot shook her head, a little saddened, but began to walk into the nursery. Before she could enter, she was blocked by Duckpelt.

"What gives?" said Twigfoot, glaring at the medicine cat.

"Hazelflower is tired and I still have stillborn kits to bury." calmly replied the brown she-cat. Twigfoot huffed, but walked back to the circle of friends she was in. A cream tabby's ears pricked up in interest when she arrived.

"What'd she say?" he asked. Twigfoot sat down with an over exaggerated sigh.

"Not much, Hazelflower's just tired, and Duckfoot isn't letting me in because she has to bury two of the kits."

The tom nodded in understanding.

"A shame," he said, "I wonder how Hazelflower will cope with a small litter. I'm guessing only one or two are left, right?"

"Sunthroat, what kind of a queen needs to cope with a small litter?" snorted a ginger tabby, who was splayed on the ground next to them. "Less of a headache for her, that's for sure."

It was Flamewhisker, one of Twigfoot's good friends, and one who surprisingly never talked to Hazelflower much in his apprentice years.

Sunthroat's tail wagged side to side in irritation. "I mean, queens seem to get all caught up over stillborns. Hazelflower's gotta be at least a little upset over it, right?"

"I guess you have a point," said Twigfoot in a thoughtful manner. It was true that queens grieved for stillborns for a little before focusing on their living kits, but with the added weight of Webtail's death, Twigfoot wasn't sure if she should be worried for her sister's wellbeing or not. Turning her head to face the nursery entrance, Twigfoot saw Duckpelt carrying what looked like two small kittens out of camp.

"Hey, you three over there!" a voice called out to them. The group all collectively turned their heads to the direction of the voice. It was Rosepath, the calico-furred deputy.

"I need you to check the borders around the southern forest area. I've gotten reports of something or someone taking all the prey around there, so you all need to check it out and report back to me." the she-cat commanded, nodding at them. The three cats nodded and began making their way to the camp's exit. Before they left, Rosepath called out to them.

"Don't get into any fights, you hear?"

"We won't!" Sunthroat shouted back, and they continued on their way.

Following the path south to camp, they reached the forest in a short amount of time. With Twigfoot in the lead, flanked by Sunthroat and Flamewhisker, they began to inspect the area for suspicious scents.

"I'll take the left over here." said Twigfoot, glancing at her side. "Flamewhisker, I think you should check the right side around those bushes, and Sunthroat can look by those trees over there."

The two other cats nodded and split up in accordance. Turning over to the side she had chosen for herself, she began to inspect it. There was a couple of logs lying about, with moss growing in heaps around it. _I'll have to remember to get some cats to bring it to camp later,_ she thought to herself, before noting an incriminating smell. It was absolutely foul, and was reminiscent of a rotting carcass. Crinkling her nose, Twigfoot stepped a bit closer to it.

She noticed a hole in between the logs once she approached it- a bit large, but it seemed as if there was a large space on the inside. It was absolutely pitch black on the inside, save for a lumpy shape Twigfoot could just barely make out.

In a moment, she shoved her head inside of it.

 **EDIT 5/18/18  
small but atmospheric changes were made**


	3. Chapter 3

"Is everything fine, Hazelflower?"

The queen looked up. It was Duckpelt.

"I'm fine," she said, yawning. Her tail curved over her kit, a light brown tabby she-cat. Duckpelt nodded. "That's good."

There was an awkward silence for a minute or so, before Duckpelt spoke up. "You're not… sad about those stillborns, right?"

Hazelflower looked thoughtful for a moment, before glancing down at her kit. She shook her head.

"Not really," the queen said. "It's useless to mope about something that won't change."

Duckpelt's face looked rather relieved, as if she had been anxiously waiting for Hazelflower to start wailing like… well, a kitten.

"Oh, good." She said. "And you're sure that you don't feel anything?"

Hazelflower shook her head yet again.

"Absolutely nothing. I have more important things to think about."

Duckpelt's ears twitched. "Alright, call me if you need anything."

The medicine cat quickly left the den, leaving Hazelflower to her own devices. She began to stare at her daughter for a long while, absolutely mesmerized by the kitten's movements. The kit in question was mewling and squirming about, trying to rather unsuccessfully move around. Hazelflower dragged it closer to her body, before curling her tail over it and laying her head down. She began to fall asleep, calmed by the quiet atmosphere of the nursery.

An hour passed, before a cat urgently walked into the nursery, and began prodding at Hazelflower. The queen woke up, and drowsily stared at the the newcomer for a good ten seconds before saying "Twig…?"

The other cat shook their head. "Actually, it's Pondclaw."

Hazelflower stared at the other she-cat for a long, hard time.

"Pondclaw?" she finally said. "Why are _you_ here?"

The silver tabby looked uncomfortable. "Duckpelt sent me here," she said, "to tell you that Twigfoot was attacked by a fox on patrol."

Hazelflower's thoughts immediately went to Webtail; her dearly departed, whose life was snuffed out by such a fox. At the thought of those wicked creatures taking yet another loved one of hers, she let out a shiver. "She's… not dead, is she?"

Pondclaw shook her head. "Duckpelt's not so sure, but with enough luck StarClan will guide her through this challenging time."

Hazelflower was silent for a bit. "She won't _die_ though, right?"

"Hazelflower, I just told you that I don't know." Pondclaw sighed, tail wagging back and forth angrily. "Some cats die to foxes and some don't."

The queen's ear twitched a bit, but she said nothing more. Pondclaw silently left the nursery, leaving Hazelflower to her own devices.

* * *

Duckpelt paced back and forth in front of the three injured warriors in front of her. Sunthroat would definitely pull through with only a jagged scar on her shoulder ( _Not so surprising, since she ran to get help at first sight_ , thought the medicine cat, as she squished as much cobweb as she could onto the she-cat). However, it was Twigfoot and Flamewhisker that worried her more. Flamewhisker didn't show any signs of improvement or of getting worse, but Twigfoot… was definitely someone that Duckpelt would need to keep a close eye on.

On the other side of the den, a grey elderly cat coughed for the medicine cat's attention.

"Duckpelt," the elder, a thin-furred tom named Pigeontooth wheezed, "Where's the water? My throat hurts."

He then promptly began coughing up a storm, prompting Sunthroat to edge away from that side of the den. Twigfoot did nothing, seeing as how she was asleep, but her ears did look like they moved ever-so-slightly. Duckpelt stopped pacing around, and began to fetch some strange looking leaves from her stores.

"I'll be there in a minute, Pigeontooth, I might have something for you." she said to him. The elder nodded and laid down his head. He had been there for the past few days complaining of an aching throat and a fever, and had nearly drained the medicine cat's supplies in the meantime.

Duckpelt sorted through the herbs, saying each one of their uses under her breath as she did so, before pulling out some strangely shaped leaves that she prayed would work on the old tom. Grasping them gently in her mouth, she put them down in front of Pigeontooth, who gobbled them up greedily. When he finished, he looked up at her expectantly. "So where's that water?"

Duckpelt internally groaned. "I'll go fetch some for you, okay?"

The tom nodded, and Duckpelt walked out of the den, intending to head toward the nearby pond in hopes of finding moss to collect the water in. Before she did so, however, she took a quick glance at the nursery. _I suppose I'll drop by to check on Hazelflower,_ she thought, and changed direction. She arrived at the nursery entrance, and took a peek in.

In the one nest laid Hazelflower and her daughter, who was rather quiet. Hazelflower greeted Duckpelt by murmuring a quiet "Hello," which Duckpelt returned.

"Have you come to speak to me about Twigfoot?" she asked. Duckpelt shook her head.

"No, but I can if you want."

Hazelflower nodded. "Please do."

Duckpelt sat down near the entrance, tail curling around her paws. "She's asleep right now, and I think it may be from the herbs I've given her."

"You think?" asked Hazelflower. "You mean, you're not certain?"

"I'm not so sure." said Duckpelt. "When I was still Blackleaf's apprentice, she never told me which herbs had side effects for sleeping and such things. The most we can do now is hope that there's nothing she'd forgotten to tell me, and pray to StarClan that Twigfoot won't join their ranks soon."

A long silence passed, in which Hazelflower gave a look of disbelief and anger towards the medicine cat. Shaking herself, Duckpelt said, "Well, anyways, I have to go. I'll come in to check on you later."

Hazelflower did not give bid her farewell, and Duckpelt quickly slid out of the nursery. She padded over to the camp exit and began to make her way to the pool. After a quick couple of minutes, she found it. It shimmered in the daylight, looking rather inviting- as if it held hordes of fish just waiting to be caught and eaten. Duckpelt, after considering checking it out for a moment, decided against it and began looking for the moss.

Head close to the ground, she walked around the circumference of the pool, before finally finding some moss. _It looks a little too clumped together and damp_ , she supposed, but picked it up anyways. When she gathered as much of it as she could in her jaws, she dumped it into the water. After a moment or so, she rose her head and began a quick pace to camp.

 **EDIT:**

 **11/20/18  
today is the day of edits**


	4. Chapter 4

Duckpelt quietly gazed upon the still-unconscious warrior, Twigfoot. The previous day, she had returned from collecting the moss for Pigeontooth- which the elder had hastily thanked her for, before soaking his teeth into it- and was checking in on her patient, who had been her main focus since then. Flamewhisker was sleeping in nests adjacent to the female warrior, and seemed to be doing about as well as Twigfoot herself. That is to say, not very well at all. Meanwhile, Sunthroat had been wandering aimlessly around camp (as she was prohibited from leaving until her wound started to scar- special orders of Duckpelt).

Licking her jaws, Duckpelt's gaze wandered around the den a bit. There weren't many herbs that she was sure would help, but the warriors already had cobwebs laced around the worst of their wounds. Twigfoot in particular was worrying the medicine cat the most, however. She had received the brunt of the attack, and her scars reflected it. There was a nasty bite on one of her sides, and before Duckpelt had cleaned it up it was smeared with blood. A large scratch crossed her face, but Duckpelt wasn't sure how she got it. She didn't think the fox was able to scratch her, but anything was possible. Not to mention those sleeping herbs...

As Duckpelt continued to evaluate the wounds, another cat came into the den. It was Silverpath, a grey tabby tom, and one of Pigeontooth's sons.

"Good afternoon, Duckpelt," he said. "I got some food for Pigeontooth. Is that okay?"

"It's fine. Go ahead, he's right there." She replied, flicking her tail in the elder's direction. The tom dipped his head- a silent gesture for 'thanks', and made his way to his father. As he laid down the prey, Pigeontooth had a nasty coughing fit, making wheezing noises. The elder seemed to ignore his son after his spell was over, because the moment he could catch his breath he began to devour the food in front of him. Leaving nothing but the skeletonized form of what use to be a mouse, he licked his lips and went to sleep.

After a couple of moments, Silverpath left the den, leaving Duckpelt with one sickly elder and three injured cats. Sighing, the medicine cat got up and picked through her stores.

There was nothing much that would work- the cobweb seemed to have soaked up a lot of blood, which was a good step to recovery, but that was really the only thing she had gotten them. Apart from that, Duckpelt wasn't sure she even had anything at the moment- she considered sending an apprentice out to fetch something from a nearby patch of supplies, but stopped herself in her tracks when she realized that there weren't any.

"Pigeontooth?" the medicine cat called out quietly. She flinched a bit when the tom let out a croaky "Yes?", surprised that he was still awake.

"Would you mind watching these three for me, while I'm out?" she asked. "I'm getting something that'll clean their wounds a bit."

"Can'tcha just lick them? Worked all the time when I came out of a battle."

Ignoring what the elder said, Duckpelt started out the den. "Call for a warrior if you need any help, I'm sure Silverpath is hanging around nearby."

She continued to walk out, but was stopped by a warrior standing by the entrance.

"Going out again, Duckpelt? Didn't you do that yesterday?" asked the warrior.

"It turns out I need more supplies," she said. "It shouldn't take too long, if there's enough herbs."

Nodding, the warrior let her pass through, and she began her trek through the forest.

Hazelflower's tail twitched restlessly. It had only been a day of her being trapped in the nursery with her daughter- who she decided to name Dustkit- yet she was already tired of sitting around doing nothing all day. Her daughter's annoying constant high-pitched mews, quiet as they were, made the queen want to claw out her nest. She couldn't leave the nursery though, as the tiny kit would likely freeze to death without a proper warmth source. Not to mention that if she left for too long, the poor thing might starve.

Suddenly, a warrior, a petite black-furred she-cat named Littleface, entered the den.

"Hello Hazelflower," the she-cat smiled. "How are you? I came to clean out your nest for you, since Silverpath told me kits like yours cause such big messes when they're little like that."

"Thank you, Littleface, the offer's appreciated." replied Hazelflower. She stood up and did a long stretch, while Dustkit flailed about underneath her. Dragging the kit to the nest next to her, the queen groomed herself vigorously as Littleface got to work.

"So, how's life with a kit?" asked the warrior. She was clearing away the dirty moss with her paw, and although she tried very hard to hide it Hazelflower could tell that she was rather disgusted.

"Boring, I wish I could get out more." Hazelflower said back.

"Can't wait for her to be an apprentice already, huh?" laughed Littleface. The moss was now bunched up in a pile, but bits of it clinged to the bracken (which the she-cat struggled to get out). "Speaking of which, who do you have in mind as a mentor?"

Hazelflower was thoughtful for a moment. "Well, if Mousestar allows it, I guess Silverpath would be a good option."

"Yeah, he would be, but wouldn't you like any special qualities to be passed on to your daughter?" questioned the warrior. Already, it was clear to Hazelflower that the pretty she-cat was trying to convince the queen to put in a good word for her to the leader.

"Well, who do you have in mind?" the queen asked her. For a moment, Littleface paused her work, only to continue seconds later by spreading out the clean moss onto the bracken.

"I'd rather not stress myself over this now- she's only just been born."

Littleface looked a bit irritated at this. "Well, if you can't come to a decision when the time comes, just know that I'm always open to mentor her."

At this, the pretty she-cat walked out of the den, her job now done. Hazelflower watched after her, before an idea popped into her head.

"Oh, Littleface, would you mind doing me a favor?" she called out, and the black she-cat practically jumped into the nursery.

"Yes?" she said eagerly.

"Would you mind keeping Dustkit warm for a little? I need to go out for a bit or I'll go mad."

Littleface was about to refuse, but after a slight pause of consideration she agreed. As she and Hazelflower swapped places, Littleface began to ask her a question.

"You won't be gone for _too_ long, will you?" she asked. "And you'll clean- want me to clean up after your kit?"

Hazelflower responded, "Not for more than two hours," and padded out of the nursery, but not before turning her head to reply to Littleface's question;

"And yes, I'd appreciate it if you cleaned up after her a bit, she can get messy and I don't want to return to an infectious nest."

 **edit: 2/20/18  
obliterated the awkward, weird things**


	5. Chapter 5

Hazelflower sighed. She had reached the pond where her sister had taken her a little before she kitted, and was staring at her reflection. Her and her sister had always looked the same; even Webtail had confused one for the other (which had lead to rather awkward situations). Did Twigfoot have heavy scarring? Just how different would they look from each other than they did before…?

A leaf floated down from one of the trees above, sending ripples across the water and completely distorting the queen's reflection.

"It's nice weather, isn't it."

Hazelflower turned around. Standing behind her was Duckpelt, herbs dropped at her feet. Bits of leaves and twigs and what-have-you were stuck to her light brown fur.

"Oh. Hello, Duckpelt." said Hazelflower, somewhat quietly. "Aren't you supposed to be looking after Twigfoot?"

Perhaps Duckpelt had summoned some ancient information from early on in her training- something that would work wonders on the warrior.

"Hazelflower, I…" Duckpelt paused, as though she were considering just what she needed to say. "I think you need to start to accept that maybe she won't make it through this."

Hazelflower was silent.

"There's just nothing that I can do for her. Fox attacks don't usually leave survivors; you of all cats should know that by now."

"But Sunthroat-" Hazelflower began, before being interrupted.

"-ran away at first sight, and even she's going to have scarring for the rest of her life." coldly replied the medicine cat. "StarClan's will is that Twigfoot just isn't going to stay in ThunderClan with us for much longer. They have had, and will continue to have their way over all of the lives of each and every cat, in each and every clan. We can't change that."

Hazelflower's fur stood up and she hissed loudly. "Maybe if you weren't such a shoddy medicine cat, she would be well on her way to recovery! You don't even know what herbs cause her to sleep; just what kind of a medicine cat are you?!"

"No one in the clans knows everything about herbs," Duckpelt said, voice as quiet as it always was. But her tone was growing dangerous. "Those herbs I gave her were for fighting off infections. No Riverclan or Windclan medicine cat would've known anything about it causing extreme drowsiness, and ShadowClan wouldn't even know what it was _for._ I know you're trying to pin the blame on me to cope with it, but you just need to accept that there's nothing more that can be done."

Again, Hazelflower was quiet. Searching for the right words, the stinging sort of words, her mouth hung open and she made quiet sounds in attempts to retort something at Duckpelt. But the medicine cat stared at her challengingly, almost daring her to start slinging insults about. Hazelflower gave her a final glare before quickly bounding off to camp.

"Oh, thank goodness you're back, Hazelflower." Littleface sighed with relief. "Dustkit was starting to get hungry, it seemed, and I just didn't know if I was supposed to find you or wait-"

"That's fine, Littleface, thank you for looking after her." Hazelflower said curtly, nosing the other, smaller she-cat out of her nest. Littleface nodded.

"Just doing my duties as a warrior," she said, before quickly making her way out of the nursery. Hazelflower looked at her nest, which was indeed nice and cleaned, with fresh moss and even a flower on the edge of it. _She did a good job at this,_ thought Hazelflower, before laying down and dragging her tiny kit to herself.

Dustkit mewled, and batted her tiny paws as best as she could. Hazelflower only stared at her daughter.

 _Her fur is so much like mine,_ thought Hazelflower. _It's so strange. Where is all the Webtail? Where did that part of her go?_

Her thoughts briefly flash back to her two stillborn kits, wondering if they looked more like her too, and a sudden pain shot her heart. She forced those emotions down, and concentrated only on Dustkit. The tiny kit was feeding quickly, and Hazelflower wondered if it was such a good idea to leave her side when she was still so young.

"Hazelflower?"

The queen turned her head to see who it was. At the entrance stood Pondclaw, whose ears were twitching every few seconds.

"Yes?" she said. Dustkit batted her tiny paws against Hazelflower's body.

"It's Twigfoot," said Pondclaw, and almost immediately Hazelflower felt a sinking sensation in her stomach. "She just woke up and wants to talk to you-"

Eyes widening with surprise, Hazelflower sprang out of her nest and ran out the nursery, not heeding her daughter's mewling and Pondclaw calling out to her. Headed towards the medicine den, Hazelflower could not help but feel triumphant at the fact that Duckpelt couldn't be any more wrong than she was.

 **oof i did it. i updated.**


End file.
